Oldham Athletic (H) League One August 8th 3pm

[saddlertd]

Well, that was very frustrating. We played okay in the first half and Sawyers scored a fantastic goal. The 3-4-1-2 formation worked pretty well, with both wing-backs doing well, although Demetriou's final ball needs work. Second half, Oldham made some tactical changes and took advantage of the space out wide, doubling up on our wing-backs - this is how the equaliser came. Oldham also had more quality upfront than us: Jake Cassidy (ex-Wolves - why didn't we get him instead of Forde?) looked a threat all game and brilliantly created their goal for Jonathan Forte - I wish we had someone of his quality in the starting XI, let alone on the bench. As it is, we have to rely on Cook who offers nothing, and Lalkovic who at least has got pace, but not much else on today's performance - he took one free kick in a dangerous place, when he should have left it to Taylor, and scuffed his shot straight to the keeper. I wasn't impressed by today's offering, it was same-old, same-old. It doesn't matter what formation you play if you haven't got enough quality in the squad.

[Wyrley_saddler]

Good opening ten minutes but after that it was dire.

The new formation was found out Easily after we scored and Oldham overran us, especially in midfield. In the second half in particular they had us pinned back as they neutralised our wing backs giving us no real outlet from the back.

Demitriou, although he's good going forward, defensively he was terrible. Kept being out of position, kept getting the wrong side of the player and was extremely lucky not to give away one, possibly two, penalties. Rico Henry looked good but faded badly in the second half.

Cook looked like a fish out of water upfront, offered zero threat.

The game was screaming out for a change but Smith refused. Oldham sent everything down the wings taking advantage of the 2 on 1 situation they had with out wing backs and it was only a matter of time before they euqalised. Deano should've changed things earlier but once again he waited for the inevitable to happen first rather than trying to prevent it.

Few positives from the game:
Etheridge looked very good. One dodgey moment at the start but commanded his box well and made atleast one decent save. Distribution was good too. He had no chance with the goal.

O'Connor picked up from where he left off last season. Easily MOTM.

[TheSwift]

Also would like to add the fact Smith neglected to use Morris at all yet he and Hiwula were basically the reason we finished last season so strongly with more goals. He would be one of the first on my team sheet!

[PINNACLE]

I agree with "The Swift" especially our need for a CH and CM(sorry Chester but it is obvious). If we are going to play that system long term then the midfield 2 need to be strong physical players ...Mantom isn't and Chambers is coming to the end of his career.
I thought Cook did ok in the first half and but for an excellent block would have scored a good goal but second half our lack height/strength was exposed.
One further thought I like to see 10 matches at least before coming to any conclusions on our season but I will say the sooner the 2 promised signings arrive the better.

10 games is almost quarter of the season and for poor sides the first 10 games could be season defining.
How about you start as you mean to go on ?
Not trying to be a Smithout after the first match, i have been one for the past 2 years !

[Sadders]

Well, I'm an optimist unlike some on this site.

But that was just, dull, sluggish and frankly boring.

I like the idea of inventive full backs but I can tell already from todays display that we are going to concede more goals playing like it. Frequently the wingbacks were caught high up the pitch and we had to negotiate several 3 on 3 situtations at the back, to which non of the centre backs looked comfortable with. Taylor/O'Connor/Downing is VERY slow as a 3 centre back partnership and anytime we lose possession with the wingbacks high up the pitch we looked suspect I thought. Smith needs to be careful that a search for more goals at one end, doesn't leave him with holes at the other. We will be relegated if we start to concede lots more goals, it's a fact. That was also the worst passing, possession performance we've had at home in about 2 years, we barely stringed the ball together more than once or twice.

Chambers just doesn't do enough, he's a poor mans crab, Cook is an absolute waste playing upfront, he just isn't effective in any aspect of playing as a forward. Bradshaw was isolated and marshalled well, but quite poor at times. I like the look of Henry and Demetriou, but Henry is still raw in tight situations (much to be expected) and Demetriou looked poor defensively. Etheridge is going to be marmite. He will cost us late, important goals by either coming off his line like David Grof did and making mistakes or flapping at crosses when he could just stick to his line. He will be the opposite of O'Donnell in that aspect. Lalkovic needs to lose a stone.

The positives? Sawyers scored an excellent goal and was our best player in the attacking third. Worked hard and made an effort to look less languid IMO. O'Connor looked very good at centre back. Calm and re-assured, did the job very well with no fuss. Both the wingbacks looked to offer us more going forward I thought.

All in all, a pretty poor start bar a few minor positives. Oldham will finish about 2 places either side of us and they were heavily tipped to go down pre-season....they were better than us today overall.

[IHTC.]

I appreciate peoples views especially Funks but he does not go to home games due to work etc yet he is so quick to defend Smith. Funk you are lucky for missing out on the rubbish we have been put through the last 2 seasons especially at home.

[superjorge]

Why does no one criticize Mantom, today he was god awful. Dont give the wing backs stick, they are trying to move us forward and Cook..Well no more to say..AWFUL!!!
The rest, they were OK as lots of Walsall performances are. Start again next game. Dean Smith is trying..I think?? to change formations, but he needs to change personnel too and leave out his favourites..

[caldy]

Today was as others have said pretty much the same as last season. Chambers ain't got it anymore. Pass side, back, side ,back. If we would have had either of their midfielders today we would have been so much better. Fantom did not look interested if you ask me. Downing by far was the weakest defensive player, replace asap. Squad player really not a starter. Really like the keeper , Rico and Demitriou. I like the laters feistiness. I'm bored of watching nice little Walsall, I want a bit more fire in the players bellies. We are not a very professional team in that way I.e the odd foul to stop play, the odd shove hear and there, not giving the opposition an inch. We give any opposition too much respect. Although Oldham got away with a lot today they IMHO wanted it more. Smith came up really short today With game time decisions. No subs until too late, same formation throughout. Nothing done to stem the flow of runners when they attacked and the list goes on. I hope we get some new signings very soon or Smiths stubbornness could end in another relegation scrap based on that performance.

[reedswood sadler]

Everyone sees a game different to others my opinion is that we were lucky to hang on for a point in the end. Started well and should have scored more than one (whats new) after 25 to 30 mins in lost shape, oldham started using space out wide where fullbacks should be as demitrio and henry still in oldham half. Oldham carried on with this tactic second half and I thought completly dominated play and just a matter of time before equaliser.

Oldham out muscled us and bradshaw got a taste of his season double marked and fouled non stop to stop him scoring.

In answer to earlier question yes it was penalty to oldham sitting level with it in crinkly stand.

[Ancient Moaner]

I agree with "The Swift" especially our need for a CH and CM(sorry Chester but it is obvious). If we are going to play that system long term then the midfield 2 need to be strong physical players ...Mantom isn't and Chambers is coming to the end of his career.
I thought Cook did ok in the first half and but for an excellent block would have scored a good goal but second half our lack height/strength was exposed.
One further thought I like to see 10 matches at least before coming to any conclusions on our season but I will say the sooner the 2 promised signings arrive the better.

Still clinging on to the hope of those promised lalaland signings eh? It won't happen my friend. Remember "what we have etc".
Today was a bang on 1-1 draw (as I predicted). Far too much optimism about a good start!
Not good reactions re Mantom, seems like he won't be that dynamic midfielder that everyone expected, career ending injury perhaps? Hope not.
Onwards and upwards, it may get better. :(

[saddler_nic]

Our new formation was figured out pretty quickly. If Smith is to persist with it over the duration of the season, he needs to figure out how to stop the wing backs being so isolated. Whether it be one of the CMs moving across to cover, or a CB, it needs to be sorted quickly.

With half an hour left, Smith should have recognised what was happening and changed back to the
4-2-3-1. It would have given the full backs extra protection, and with Cooke replaced by Morris, Milan or Forde, would still have given us an attacking edge, as well as a bit more pace on the break.

The sooner Smith is brave enough to change the formation in game, rather than the personnel, the better we will be. Can't see it happening any time soon though

[IHTC.]

Our new formation was figured out pretty quickly. If Smith is to persist with it over the duration of the season, he needs to figure out how to stop the wing backs being so isolated. Whether it be one of the CMs moving across to cover, or a CB, it needs to be sorted quickly.

With half an hour left, Smith should have recognised what was happening and changed back to the
4-2-3-1. It would have given the full backs extra protection, and with Cooke replaced by Morris, Milan or Forde, would still have given us an attacking edge, as well as a bit more pace on the break.

The sooner Smith is brave enough to change the formation in game, rather than the personnel, the better we will be. Can't see it happening any time soon though

He's not done it in 4 years so wont change now.

We are treading water under Smith and eventually after treading water for a while you get tired and start to sink, still amazes me after the drab performances over the last 2 years how the fans are still so patient with him. Wembley really has papered over the cracks and blinkered a lot of people

[PT]

If ever there was a performance and result to sum up life under Dean then today was it. Lots of promise but ultimately too naive/stubborn/unintelligent to turn the promise into three points.

Baking hot day so after 75 minutes they have refreshed 30% of their team and guess what? they looked fresher than us. Our wing-backs and Henry in particular were wilting given the heat and non-stop demands of the role and yet we left until it was too late to make the obvious second sub.

Taking Cook off for Milan I agreed with until I saw Milan waddle onto the park. We've swapped Hiwula for that? Oh dear. Looked very unfit to the extent that his run up for a free kick on the edge of the box tired him out so much he could barely get the ball to roll meekly forward. That pass back to their keeper by Milan directly lead to their equaliser as the keeper gathered, got it up field quickly and they scored. As others have said Morris was the right call but you get a feeling that there is a pecking order of seniority that goes Cook, Milan, Forde, Morris.

Our bloatedly average and yet horribly unbalanced squad was evident too. The bench had three players who could play in one position and only one defensive player. A few years ago we had about 8 right-backs and yet this year I don't think we have any. On today's performance Demetriou isn't a defender, could have easily given away 2 pens by finding himself on the wrong side and got turned and beaten for fun. He's a winger, like we needed another winger! No place on the bench for the likes of Kinsella, Murphy and Bakayoko means that their development continues to be stunted.

On a more positive note, I liked the way the keeper came for stuff, Romaine's finish was sublime, we've got another way of playing (though we need other ways too as against better sides we'll get crucified if we leave the three isolted as we did today) and I thought it was a decent crowd and atmosphere. We looked likely to get a second for twenty minutes after the break and I'm reasonably sure that had we done so, we'd have won. So yes, some promising bits but lots of familiar shortcomings all over.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Agree with much of what has already been said - it did seem to be a definite "Plan B" compared to much of last season, we didn't play tippy-tappy because most of the time we were lumping it forward to Bradshaw and/or Sawyers. The problem there was that Bradshaw was kept under lock and key by his marker (who must have been 3"or 4" taller than Tom) and this resulted in Bradshaw winning very few headers. Sawyers was better at holding the ball up, and usually had the skill to twist and turn, ball at his feet, to retain possession. Cook did a bit of running but not much else.

Because our formation was a significant "push forward upfield" plan, we did leave some horrendous gaps at the back, and this was duly exploited by an Oldham side that won most things in the air and seemed to have more pace than our midgets. Taylor at left-back was caught out on quite a few occasions, and it was from a lofted pass down his flank that the Oldham equaliser stemmed.

Having just got home, I checked on the BBC account of the game and wasn't surprised to see that Oldham's foul count was significantly higher than ours. They're a big side and my word do they put it about - it has to be said that Bradshaw and Sawyers got very little protection from the referee, but his reluctance to clamp down on foul play probably did us good in a way, because another ref would possibly have awarded a penalty (or two) to Oldham when Demetriou got caught out of position and used his undoubted physical skills.....

The positives - Rico Henry was outstanding in my opinion. Playing as a left-sided midfield/winger he was a revelation, and how many times did he confront an Oldham player who had the ball, win it fairly and come away with it? (Loads of times is the correct answer). He has a great future on this display. Etheridge would have been in another referee's book for time-wasting - he's so cool and laid back he's almost horizontal. However, he does have something that O'Donnell didn't have, in that he will command his goal area (and most of the penalty area if needs be) and he is positive when he decides to go for the ball. Late in the game there was an Oldham attack down their left wing, the ball looping over Demetriou - with the Oldham player giving chase, Etheridge came haring out of his goal, out of the penalty area, and thumped the ball almost into orbit. Nice one, Neil. He had no chance with Forte's goal when it came, and in fact he had already produced some really good saves, including one wicked deflection that meant not even Ben Stokes could have caught it, but Etheridge punched it out for a throw-in. I like the guy. Demetriou was strong in defence, and not afraid to take man and ball if need be. O'Connor was solid, reliable....but I can't honestly say the same for Chambers or Downing, who were occasionally a.w.o.l. Lalkovic looked lively when he eventually got the chance to play, and he combined nicely with Bradshaw, only for Tom to shoot with his left foot, high and wide.

What surprised me about Dean Smith's first substitution was that he brought Cook off and put Lalkovic on - at that stage we were still 1-0 ahead and I would have expected a massive shoring up of the defence to preserve what we had. Still, what do I know? (very little is the correct answer here).

In contrast to one or two opinions above, I found it to be quite an entertaining game. We didn't prattle around tippy-tappying and playing sideways/backwards/sideways anywhere near as much as last season, instead we tried to play to our attackers when they were allowed to maintain their footholds in the turf rather than being wrestled to the ground.

Have I mentioned Mantom? No, I thought not. Probably because there wasn't much to recall. Oh, he took our solitary corner late in the game.......

It could be worse, you could support the Blades!!!!!!!!! (lost 4-0 at Gillingham :lol: :lol: :lol: )

[Walsallone]

I wasn't going to comment further however:
AM...I do believe we will have at least 2 players in before the end of August.
PINNACLE...in my experience snap,early judgments are often wrong. You can usually tell what sort of season it will be after a number of games have been played. I think 10 is a reasonable number.

[ToeJoe Jnr]

If that is the kind of performance that Cook puts in after having a pre season then frankly it wasn't worth the 12 month wait. If he thinks he is a striker he needs his head checking!

Mantom isn't the player he was before his injury and it shows. Hence the reason why we need another CM.

For those saying Smith doesn't change system, he did. He went from 3-5-2 to 4-5-1 with 5 mins left because he knew we were under the cosh and he wanted to protect a point! This from a team wanting to push on this season.

Disappointing game, what does it tell us about the season ahead, not a lot it's is one game. Part of me can't help but think we will see a lot of this again during the season.

Not very inspiring stuff.

[Noggin]

Just got home, loads of Man Utd fans on the M1...

IMO... The first half we were the better team, but only just and deserved to go in 1-0 up.

The second was almost one way traffic at times. Out played us and out sang us. Nice to see some life in the away end.

Was 1-1 a fair result? Maybe we were lucky.

I loved the one minutes silence (apart from one cock in the Walsall end... why is there always one...)

I loved the Oldham shirt that was place outside the ground at the make shift shrine/memorial, class pure class.

It's going to be a long season.

[caldy]

I wasn't going to comment further however:
AM...I do believe we will have at least 2 players in before the end of August.
PINNACLE...in my experience snap,early judgments are often wrong. You can usually tell what sort of season it will be after a number of games have been played. I think 10 is a reasonable number.

Peoples views are not early judgements, it's been the same for 2 years. Another slow start, signings should have been made early if a change of system was to be employed this season. We will be fighting an uphill battle all season I fear.

On another note the "Dean Smiths barmy army" chant didn't last long and not many joined in I noticed.

[philthesaddler]

So the weakest areas of our squad (central defence, central midfield, and upfront) see no signings this summer.

We have 1 full-time centre back, so we switch to playing 3 at the back.

We have a squad full of wingers (Lalkovic, Forde, Morris, Baxendale, Morris), so we play wing backs, eliminating the need for wingers, but requiring a striker.

Smith really is a genius.

[kshammer]

Frustrating day today. Once we managed to actually get in the ground (only Walsall could have a huge fudge off line waiting to get in when it wasn't even a massive game), i thought we started really well. Sawyers goal was fantastic - absolute top class - and hit the ball harder than I thought he could. Second half it was a different story though as Oldham came back into it and it was the same old wait for the equalizer to come. They fully deserved a point.

The positives of today were Sawyers goal obviously, but also Etheridge looked decent (does like a salmon leap now and again), O'Connor was excellent - in fact the 3 worked ok other than the goal, Demetrious looked promising and the stand out man for me was Rico Henry. Quick feet but also a really quick brain and we have a fantastic talent on our hands here - the best for some time. He is going to get better and better and he'll be one of the stars this season in my opinion and he was my MOTM today. These two wing backs could be really good to watch.

Negatives... well the same as last year and the same as i've said all summer. We still need a bit of nastiness/physical presence in this team. Not to the detriment of trying to play, just a powerful midfielder and a bit of power up top. Oldham tackled far harder than us and we struggled with it. Bradshaw was marked tightly and got kicked all afternoon (as all good centre halves should), but give him a decent, strong partner and he'd get in the game far more. It would offer an out ball under pressure and give something for our wing back to aim for. Cook is plain barclays - I can't see what he offers and Lalko still doesn't look match sharp but hopefully that will come. Overall, there's not a bad technical footballer in the squad but we are far too nice (and i'm sick of saying it).

Oh and I had the normal conversation with an Oldham supporter at the end. "Who's your number 10 - different class out there?". I told him every away fan thinks it but not all of ours. :lol:

[philthesaddler]

Also would like to add the fact Smith neglected to use Morris at all yet he and Hiwula were basically the reason we finished last season so strongly with more goals. He would be one of the first on my team sheet!

And this is why Smith gets so much stick.

Morris was a revelation last season when he came back from Wrexham.

He must have had a terrible pre-season to have been totally bombed out...or more likely, like I've already said, Smith can't fit wingers in to this new formation...rendering the likes of Forde, Baxendale, Morris, Cook totally useless as squad players. Smith's an idiot, and this is why I no longer want him leading the club, he clearly doesn't have the brains to take the club forward, which means eventually, he'll take us backwards. Ironically, this switch of formation maybe the final nails in his coffin.

Smith just baffles me, clearly has no idea how to get the best out of the players he has, nor does he know how to build a balanced squad.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

As well as all the other points about Dean Smith - Unbalanced squad, stunting young players growth, etc etc, he is constantly getting out done by opposition managers. They think more quickly than him, and act more quickly. It's early days yet, but last season, so many teams came to Walsall and had us worked out before they got there.

We could easily get someone worse, but I'd be willing to take that chance, even if it meant we went down, cos watching Walsall these days, is dull, boring, and very, very predictable.

[Ancient Moaner]

[quote="We-ARE-Walsall"]As well as all the other points about Dean Smith - Unbalanced squad, stunting young players growth, etc etc, he is constantly getting out done by opposition managers. They think more quickly than him, and act more quickly. It's early days yet, but last season, so many teams came to Walsall and had us worked out before they got there.

We could easily get someone worse, but I'd be willing to take that chance, even if it meant we went down, cos watching Walsall these days, is dull, boring, and very, very predictable.[/quote]

This................

And no 'Walsallone' there will NOT be any more signings end of. We'll all have to get used to this disjointed square pegs in round holes nonsense until relegation starts to rear it's ugly head and Gamble asks the Boner to make an appropriate 'decision'. :(

[Ancient Moaner]

Incidentally, I note from an above comment that Milan looked bloated/overweight, just as I mentioned in an earlier post when we last saw him at Barnsley. Are our 'management' team completely blind to such facts? Similar to last seasons 'Mantom' fiasco, something just 'ain't right' :?

[redalways]

When Mantom was player of the season, he was the creative midfield player. Now when he has the ball, the obvious pass is to give it to Sawyers. We do not need three central midfield players.

On a hot afternoon, Henry should not have been doing 100 yard runs. He should have been playing in front of Taylor, with the latter playing as a full back. Demetriou should have had Morris in front of him, overlapping when appropriate and they should have been covering each other.

We needed two up front capable of causing problems in the penalty box. Whilst we have some promising youngsters, we currently have only one obvious first team striker. Cook should be shipped out asap, or just left in the reserves as cover for whenever all else fails.

4 4 2 might be unfashionable, but in the past, it was rarely a bigger failure than what we have had to suffer over the last couple of years.

Oh, and we also need a Manager with even basic imagination.

[JonnyOwen]

Big formation dilemma for Deano.

If he plays 352 we waste all of our wingers that now can't get into the team, and look poorer defensively in behind.

If he plays 4231 it's the same old same old boring football with Bradshaw isolated.

If he plays 442 he can no longer fit Sawyers, who was excellent today, into the team. If anyone saw the 2 or 3 games that we played 442 in you would know this team cannot play it at all (Col U, Scunthorpe).

If he plays 433 he can't play Sawyers and we look vulnerable defensively (8-2).

So which one to do we play? :?: Strikes me as Dean has built his team to play 433 and 4231 again, tried 352 against WBA and realised it might be really good, he's switched to it, and now the squad is unbalanced. Lack of forward planning, even though there was murmurs of us playing 3 at the back with the "Bristol City philosophy" quote, but I doubt he ever planned out to properly play it.

[SaigonSaddler]

Interesting stuff, laced with helpings of the usual outlandish and desperate cries of despair.

Someone mentioned 'this was the first game' or something. I'd be minded to give a team, I dunno, at least 2, before racing for the lifeboats while simultaneously trying to cut wrists and hanging myself.

Anyway, could be a blades fan - imagine that! :D

[Exile]

Interesting stuff, laced with helpings of the usual outlandish and desperate cries of despair.

Someone mentioned 'this was the first game' or something. I'd be minded to give a team, I dunno, at least 2, before racing for the lifeboats while simultaneously trying to cut wrists and hanging myself.

Anyway, could be a blades fan - imagine that! :D

Maybe Deano is still shooting Virtual Soccer Academy II with Bonser. If so forget 1, 2 or ten games*. :mrgreen:

* historically it's always been fifteen games bare minimum but I guess the modern world is in a hurry.

[We-ARE-Walsall]

Interesting stuff, laced with helpings of the usual outlandish and desperate cries of despair.

Someone mentioned 'this was the first game' or something. I'd be minded to give a team, I dunno, at least 2, before racing for the lifeboats while simultaneously trying to cut wrists and hanging myself.

Anyway, could be a blades fan - imagine that! :D

While I'd agree no one should be hanging themselves and I respect your opinions, this isn't Smith's first game, he is well in to his managerial career with Walsall now. I can't help but be a little disappointed about this summers activity (or lack of it) We were told there was an increased budget, on top of last summers increased budget. Now I have been following Walsall a long time, like yourself, I was not expecting us to go in to the market and spend transfer fees. I wasn't even expecting us to go out and sign 'big' name players. What I was hoping for was that Smith would have identified what he needed, and gone out and tried to get those players. Football supporters always think they know best of course, think Colin Lee and his "Budding Alex Fergson's" rant, or Richard Money and his squawking rages. That said, it was fairly obvious to anyone with a little knowledge or experience of watching football what we needed.

I think he did a decent job of replacing O'Donnell, still to be seen, but early signs are that could be okay. Our main summer signing was Lalkovic, he was remarkably average last time he was with us for the most part, with just a handful of games where he turned it on a little. I think some Walsall fans took a liking to him for whatever reason, maybe cos he was from Chelsea and had a sexy foreign name, or whatever, but he wasn't all that great in all honesty. He has come back overweight to boot. What is even more worrying to me though is that it's clear that Lalkovic is a wide player, where we are already over loaded with players, he is probably better than Forde, and Definitely better than Cook, so it's kind of acceptable. Then Dean decides he is going to scrap playing the system that allows us to play attacking wide players, leaving our most promising player (Morris) out in the cold. No place for Lalkovic, Cook shoe horned in to a strikers role, which he is clearly no good at, and 3 wide players on the bench. We have been crying out for a commanding Center back since Butler left, which he has failed to address, but now decides we are going to play with 3 Center backs. We started with a right back and a left back playing center half yesterday. To be fair, O'Connor was always better at Center half, it took him 2/3 of last season to work that one out, but all the same, the basic point is, the squad is even more unbalanced and built for what he is trying to do than ever.

The center of midfield is painfully weak. He decided to retain Chambers, I'd imagine he is at the top end of our wage scale, yet is clearly declining as a footballer because of his age, and unlikely to play a full season. Mantom has some class about him, but he hardly seems fit, and there is an awful lot of weight on his shoulders to carry the whole midfield. I can't for the life of me see what he has tried to do this summer. Other than come up with a new formation, pretty late in to the pre-season, without a team built to use it, and little time to have rehearsed it to be competent at playing it anyway.

I don't know if he has spent what was available to him, if he has I can't see how, but most of all he has made the same mistakes as usual, but on a bigger scale, can't help feel we have missed a great opportunity here to have a real crack at what is a poor division. In yesterdays game, he proved yet again he isn't a proactive manager as yet another manager out thought him, and it seems we were relatively lucky not to lose. I don't need 10-15 games to know he has fudged this up, or to know what is in store for us again this season. I've no doubt we will use the loan market, and at some point and look like we could be useful, but I also think we will get at least one of those horrid goalless/winless runs that have been a theme of his reign. He has had a lot of patience from the majority of fans given just how bad it has been at times, more than any manager at Walsall I can remember. This could well be the season his luck runs out. It's painful, dull and boring watching Walsall these days. Personally I'd prefer to take the risk and try someone else, we could get someone worse of course, but I'd take that risk, and if we went down so be it, not the end of the world. If I wanted to have a life of mid table mediocrity every season (bottom half mainly) I'd support Villa, not Walsall.

I've always lived in hope he'd learn, and progress, this is not the case, we have gone stale, and will remain that way now until something changes.

[PT]

Spot on WaW.

Much like yourself I have seen the majority of our games under Dean, given him every chance, but find him becomming more and more baffling in what he does and says whilst his team continue to display the same weaknesses they have always shown. This year's squad and us setting up in a way that exposes our gaps rather than deploying our depth is just weird.

My opinion isn't based on one game, knee-jerk or short-sighted. It is based upon the 238 games he's been in charge, around 150 of which I have seen. Yesterday was yet another occasion where we got on top and then he was out-flanked by his opposite number. Three years ago I'd have said he was learning and urging patience as often he was being out-flanked by some wiley old foxes who knew their way through a third division game. Yesterday he was up against a rookie and was completely done in a game where we looked relieved to hang on for a point at home to the most average of average sides in a very average league.